Purcell Mountain Lodge

The lodge prints starting-from prices only: $2,598 per person for the 3-night Friday-to-Monday guided package and $2,998 for the 4-night Monday-to-Friday one, double occupancy, taxes extra, with the helicopter, meals and guiding included. The 6-night week is priced by phone, and the lodge says to call for the best rate as it depends on availability and helicopter seats. A single supplement and youth and child rates exist but are not published.

Taking the whole place is priced in full: the main lodge for 12 to 16 guests is $12,898 plus tax from December to May ($9,898 in November and December), the chalet for 4 to 8 is $6,898 ($4,898 from October to December), each for 3 or 4 nights, plus $598 plus tax per person for the helicopter, and chef, meals and guiding on top. Bring your own bedding and towels on a buy-out.

Meet at the Alpine Helicopters hangar, 204 Fisher Road at the Golden airport, at 7:15 for the 8:00 summer flight or 8:15 for the 9:00 winter one. Bags are weighed, you sign the waiver with a staff witness, and the pilot gives the safety talk; then a flight the lodge calls ten to fifteen minutes, six guests at a time. Fly-in days are Fridays for the 3-night trip and Mondays for the 4-night one. Coming home, the first flight leaves the lodge at about 8:30 in summer and 9:30 in winter and everyone is down by 10:30 or 11; the lodge says to book onward flights for late afternoon or evening.

One soft bag of 30 lb in summer or 35 lb in winter, plus your day pack, which has no limit. No hard shells, no wheels. Bring a blanket or sleeping bag for the bed and your own towels; the lodge supplies the fitted sheet and pillows. In winter you fly in helmet, goggles, ski jacket, boots and pants; splitboards go up with the bindings off. Bear spray flies in an outside compartment; hand it to the stager.

Delays of hours or a day or more are not uncommon, more so in winter. If the helicopter cannot fly for safety there is no extra charge, but there is no refund or credit either, and the cost of a late departure from the lodge is yours. If your group causes a flight to run short or out of sequence (a late arrival, a private flight on another date, an emergency), the helicopter company's extra charge is passed on to you.

Ten private rooms on the upper floor, each with a queen bed, a vanity and sink, blackout curtains, a power outlet, heat and a private outdoor patio; the 3-guest rooms add a twin and one shared room takes five with a queen and three twins. Three showers and three washrooms are steps from the rooms, with one more washroom downstairs. Beds come with a fitted sheet and pillows; you bring the blanket or sleeping bag and your towels, and strip the bed on the last morning. A quiet library, a desk and a veranda are upstairs too.

A two-bedroom cabin steps from the main lodge for a group of 4 to 8, one room with queen bunks and one with a king and two singles, its own shower and washroom, a dining room, a private deck and propane heaters. Take it catered, with the chef's meals delivered, or self-catered from its stocked kitchen (a $100 cleaning fee, and the helicopter carries your food); guided or self-guided. The lodge recommends it for families with very young children.

Coffee at 7, hot breakfast at 8 while the guides lay out the day's options from gentle to hard, out on the trail around 10 with the lunch you packed from the morning spread. Back by 5 for happy hour, appetizers, a shower or the sauna, then a 3-course dinner at 6:00 in summer or 6:30 in winter with BC wines. The first day is a half or three-quarter day while the guides assess the group; every day after is a full day; there is no outing on departure morning.

Guided hikes and tours split into a faster and a slower group, and in summer you may leave the group and walk back to the lodge at your own pace. A guided guest who wants to explore alone must clear it with the lead guide; the waiver covers both.

In winter only on designated early-season dates, for experienced groups competent in avalanche safety, navigation and terrain assessment; during the main season the lodge runs as a guided lodge, with the odd late-season exception on request to Jackie Mah. The chalet can be booked self-guided and self-catered. The waiver you sign covers guided and self-guided travel alike.

Winter runs from meadow slopes for a first backcountry trip to multi-summit days of 1,400 to 2,000 m of climbing; the guides tailor the tier to the group, and everyone does the avalanche orientation and wears a transceiver, shovel and probe. Summer hikes split into faster and slower groups with an easier first day. Children under 13 are welcome with a parent or a responsible adult; the lodge suggests the chalet for the youngest. A parent signs the waiver for anyone 18 and under.

Contemporary cooking from an Austrian-trained kitchen: eggs benedict and crepes at breakfast, baguettes and wraps in the lunch sack, brisket sliders and smoked salmon at happy hour, beef wellington, rack of lamb and strudel at dinner. Gluten-free, dairy-free and vegetarian are catered from your guest form. The lodge is nut-free: bring no nut snacks. Drinks are from the cash bar (wines, craft beers, ciders, spirits) and no outside alcohol comes in; the tab is settled by card, cash or e-transfer on the last evening.

Wifi is $15 a day plus tax and must be arranged before you arrive; the lodge would rather you unplugged, and switches it on free after the farewell dinner so you can pay your tab by e-transfer. Every room has a power outlet and the lodge keeps a hair dryer, but power is limited. Leave 1-888-767-8989 with anyone who might need you.

The lodge's list: wool or synthetic layers, a vented shell and an insulated jacket for lunch stops, skis or a splitboard or snowshoes, poles, boots and skins, helmet and goggles, a 30 to 35 L day pack with room for lunch and avalanche gear, a headlamp, a blister and repair kit. Modern lightweight powder skis of 105 to 125 mm with tech bindings are what the guides recommend. Then the bed and bath: a lightweight sleeping bag or blanket, towels, slippers, casual clothes for dinner, all inside 35 lb.

Open the winter backcountry lodge packing list →

Sturdy waterproof boots, gaiters, poles, a 30 L day pack, 2 to 3 L of water bottles, rain jacket, pants and hat, a vented windbreaker, fleece, shorts and hiking pants, sun hat, sunglasses, insect repellent, a whistle. Bear spray is optional; the guides carry it. Then a blanket or sleeping bag, your shower and sauna towel, slippers, casual clothes for dinner and a swimsuit for the sauna, inside 30 lb.

Open the summer backcountry lodge packing list →

At your discretion; the lodge suggests 15 to 20% of the trip cost, shared equally among the staff who hosted you. It goes on the bar tab on the last evening by card (plus 2.5%), cash or e-transfer; a marked envelope for anyone you want to single out.